We have studied that a living community cannot live in isolation. It lives in an
environment which supplies its material
and energy requirements and provides other
living conditions. The living community,
together with the physical environment
forms an interacting system called the
Ecosystem. An ecosystem can be natural
or artificial, temporary or permanent. A
large grassland or a forest, a small tract in
a forest or a single log, an edge of a pond, a
village, an aquarium or a manned spaceship
can all be regarded as ecosystems. An
ecosystem can thus be defined as a
functional unit of nature, where living
organisms interact among themselves and
also with the surrounding physical
environment.
Now let us study some ecosystems.
Mangrove ecosystem
Mangroves are one of the most
productive ecosystems on earth, deriving
mineral nutrients from terrestrial fresh
water and tidal salt waters. Mangroves are
the forests that grow in back waters of low
depth areas of sea shore. Mangrove serves
as an important feeding, nourishing and
breeding ground for a variety of
commercial by important organisms and
also serves as protected area for
endangered species
.
coringa mangrove is situated south
of Kakinada Bay and is about 150 km south
of Visakhapatnam. Coringa is named after
the river Corangi. Coringa mangroves
receive fresh water from Corangi and
Gaderu rivers, tributaries of Gautami and
Godavari river and salt waters from
Kakinada bay. Numerous creeks and canals
travel in this ecosystem. Let us observe
biotic and abiotic components of Coringa
ecosystem.
Fig-4 : View of mangroves in Coringa
Biotic components
Producers- Mangrove, Spirogyra,
Oscilatoria, Ulothrix (blue-green algae)
etc.
Consumers - shrimp, crab, Hydra,
protozoans, mussel, snail, turtle, daphnia,
brittle worm, tube worm, etc.
Decomposers - Detritus feeding bacteria,
etc.
Abiotic components - Marine and fresh
water, air, temperature, sunlight, soil, etc.
Fig-5 : Food web in Coringa Ecosystem
